‘Idol’ Returns: How Viewers Responded to the Rebirth of the Iconic Series

American Idolis gracing TV screens once again, moving to ABC in a reboot after 15 seasons on Fox. B&C partnered with Canvs, the emotion measurement company, and iSpot, the TV ad measurement company with attention and conversion data from more than seven million smart TVs, to see how fans and brands reacted to the two-night season premiere earlier this week.

There were 34,563 Emotional Reactions (ERs) around the inaugural episodes with love being expressed in nearly a third (28.9%) of the comments. Enjoy (12%), excited (8.9%), funny (7.4%) and crazy (7.3%) followed suit. For the most part, conversation was very positive and fans were clearly psyched to have the show back on air.

One of the biggest drivers of conversation was judge Katy Perry. She was the second most-mentioned topic behind only instances of the show’s name itself. The next most talked about judge was Luke Bryan.

According to iSpot, brands spent an estimated $15.1 million to place ads during the the first two episodes, with Macy’s (one of the official big Idol sponsors), Trulicity and REXULTI leading the way. Industries dominating the spending overall included movie studios, department stores and wireless communications. Interestingly these industries also were in the top five big spenders throughout season 15 when Idol was still on Fox (see the 2016 chart below).

The graphic below shows brands that racked up a minimum of 8 million TV ad impressions during the reborn American Idol and have also achieved an impressive iSpot Attention Index. An iSpot Attention Index over 100 indicates brands with ads that are less likely to be interrupted than average (for example, an iSpot Attention Index of 120 is 20% less likely to be interrupted). Interruptions include changing the channel, pulling up the guide, fast-forwarding or turning off the TV. At this point, movie studios are leading the way with impressive 140+ scores.

Honorable mentions go to the following brands, which fall below the reach of the big hitters, but are still commanding impressive attention from viewers: Diet Coke (iSpot Attention Index of 171, meaning its ads are 71% less likely to be interrupted), as well as Xeljanz (167), AARP Services, Inc. (166) and Indeed (163).